Akihabara 秋葉原, Japan Trip (Day 2)

28th December 2014, Sunday

Breakfast Bento Set

Today, we are going to Akihabara, a shopping street famous for its electrical and anime stuffs. So we woke up early and got ready to make our way there. We stopped by a small food place called 松屋, where we bought a bento set as breakfast using the coupon machine..Still it took us a while to try to match the names with the pictures and trying to figure out what can be topped up with...heheee...Luckily there wasn't much people around (only like 2 persons dining in)....After we got our coupon, we went up to the staff and gave her the coupon...We waited for a little while and our bento set was served...and it was nice to eat...hehee...we just shared that 1 set and after eating, we walked to the subway station - Kojimachi Station which was a short distance from the hotel. There was a sign on the staircase indicated we were 31 m above sea level too...We took the subway to Yurakucho Station, where we need to transfer to the JR line to go to Akihabara. When we came out from Yurakucho station (subway) exit, BIC Camera entrance was just beside it. Bic Camera Inc is a consumer electronics retailer chain in Japan and you can see it anywhere in Japan. And the prices are all tax exemption, which means it could be really cheap. Anyway, i had checked online this is the place where you can buy data sim cards too.

Cameras

Camera Lens

Fuji Films

So we went in to take a look, there were at least 6 or 7 levels in the whole building. We were at basement 2, where all the camera and accessories are placed...They even sells those films for very old cameras. We checked with 1 of the staffs on the data cards, he directed us to go up to level 1. We saw Y! Mobile service provider, and we also saw ipads, iphones, macbooks, etc which were cheap without the taxes....We asked one of the staff on where the data cards are located...then we went to see it..it was a different data sim card (not my friend had checked online). The staff was saying it was popular with tourists, it was a 14 days 1 GB data card for around $3900 yen. The staff doesn't know how to speak English, ended up the whole conversation with him was through google translation on his phone when we tried to ask him about the data sim card. Anyway my friend doesn't want to get it cos she not sure whether the speed will be fast enough for us to google the places. So we went off to the JR Yamaonote Line, we took exit 7 and walked up to the street level. The entrance for the JR line is on the right side and there was a small lottery shop...Once again, we walked up and bought a Loto 7 ticket for 9th Jan 2015 draw...heheee....7 numbers for $300 yen...After buying the ticket, we went to take the JR line.

Gashapon Machines

Kuroko no Basuke Figurines

Gundam Wing Models

Gundam Seed Models

It was roughly 4 stops away from JR Yurakucho station, and when we exited out from JR Akihabara station, there were a lot of gashapon machines placed there. And of course, i got stuck there...went to see what was cute there and played one of it for fun...Finally able to pull myself away and we went up to the street level. It was 'WOW' when i stood outside...there were so many people and many buildings with alot of anime posters and best of all, the roads was closed there. So we just turned to 1 direction and started to walk and explore the area...It was really big, 1 whole day is really not enough to walk if you are an anime lover or electrical lover. Of course, saw my favorite Gundam and Gaogaigar toys and of course, we were also digging the different prices of iPads....There was this small shop selling iPad Air 2 128 gb with cellular for $87,000 yen. So far, this is the only shop that sells iPads with cellular, the rest of the shops we went, even BIC Camera, they only allow us to buy wifi sets. But we just continued on walking first, and went across the street for toilet break in Starbucks and to use their free wifi....wanted to compare prices in Apple Store in SG...  :P

Kanda Myojin Shrine

After that, we continued walking ...werid thing is we like had walked for 2 hours or so, we were still quite near to the train station, which mean we didn't walk very far away....lol....We crossed over to Yodobashi Camera building and went into a small pastry cafe to have some breads and hot cocoa. And my friend kept pestered me on the different prices on the iPads, until i got really pissed off with it...Whole day like checking on iPad prices....Anyway, think she also noticed my frustration, so after eating the breads, we walked to the nearby shrine - Kanda Myojin Shrine, which was a straight road down from Akihabara. We reached the shrine around 3 plus, and there was some blessing ceremony going on. We washed our hands and mouth with the spring water at the side and then went in to explore the place. Don't really understand what was the ceremony about too...we stayed there for half an hour or so, they sells charm stickers to stick on credit cards, phones and computers...it was abit different from the usual charms which is put in a embroidered cloth bag. There was a little pony there too, no sure what it is doing there. After which, we left the shrine and walked back to Akihabara.

Spicy Ramen

Normal Ramen

Along the way, we stopped by some electrical shops and gashapon shops (cannot resist going in to play)...at the same time, we started looking food for our dinner. We also stopped at an Apple store when we passed by along the way. My friend checked out the prices for the iPad and was asking the staff for some extra information. The guy was telling us that we can't buy wifi+cellular sets cos it will need to be tied to a service provider in Japan (Even in BIC Camera, they don't sell wifi+cellular sets to tourists too). The guy was somehow questioning my friend asking her why she don't want to write down when she got him to repeat twice on where are the Apple stores branches in Tokyo and somehow we can see him abit getting impatient with us. So we left the shop without buying. Then we came into small alleys with mini electrical shops and my friend recongized 1 shop that she came before the first time she visited Tokyo. We wanted to eat there, but there was no English menu or pictures for us to pattern matching and it seems like the place was only selling beef ramen. So we went to the ramen shop opposite it and bought 2 different types of soup based ramens. Mine was spicy and my friend's one was neutral. Mine was too spicy for me to take it...while my friend was eating her ramen happily. We even got to pick a toy from the shop after paying for our meal. We both chose Winnie The Pooh magnets....hehehee...After which, we went walking again...went in arcade too, with those UFO catching machines...got 2 or 3 levels in a building with all these machines. We saw in 1 shop with a notice there is free wi-fi for tourists, so my friend went up to the staff and asked for a free wifi card but the staff told us we need to go the other building opposite the street to activate it (cos the wifi access point is searchable in the other shop). After activating the wifi account there, we just walked in the building to see what they were selling. We noticed Logitech is called Logicool there (not sure is it the same or its some other brand but the logic and packaging look exactly the same...lol).

Logicool Mouse

After which, we went into Yodobashi Camera building to try look for data sim cards. The staff also brought us to the popular tourist data card, which my friend doesn't want it and beside it, there were other many different data sim cards from different providers (even choosing a data card can be sooo confusing)....There were 14 days, 30days, 1 GB or 2GB or 3GB ones. Anyway we can't decide on which one to get too and the staff was entertaining 1 customer, when we tried to ask him question again, he just told us to wait until he is done with the current customer. And we waited, but he didn't get back to us even after entertaining the customer, which in the end we left without buying it...We stood there to wait for him for at least 15 mins (so give up). Then we went to Tower Records, where i bought 2 albums for my brother (from his idol). And then we walked for a little more and we went back to take the metro. There was vomit on the floor on the train, we jumped to avoid it. One guy wasn't so lucky...he had run to dash in the train and he stepped on the vomit and fell onto it....ekkk...really bad luck for him...and when the door closed, there was also vomit on the door (someone must be really drunk)...After we alighted from the metro, we forgot which exit did we came from this morning, so we were guessing on one of the exits. In the end, we walked on the streets...towards the wrong way and even walked until to the next metro station....hahahaa....From there, we took the metro back to our station again and went out from the correct exit and finally reached the hotel safe and sound.


Hotel Stayed:
APA Hotel - Hanzomon Hirakawacho